                                        earer


A   R E F O R M E D   SEMI-MONTHLY  M A G A Z I N E



IN THIS ISSUE


      Meditation:       *     ;
        The Church's Unity In- Rich Distinction
                                                                                        _'
      Editorials:                                                                       :. . `.
        Publication News                                                          :
                                                       ~.                                     -.
        -The Erring Views of Dr.  IL  M.  Kuitei-t                                \`
                                                       *.:
      Absalom and  Amnon  (see: A Cloud of Witnesses)

      The Basis for Dissent  (see: The Strength of Youth)



                                          Volume XL V/Number t?/Ja<. 1.5, 1969


170  _                                                   TtiE  STAtiDAtiD  BEARER


                                                                                              e
                            C&TEN~S:                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                             I       Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August.*

Meditation  -                                                                          Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
  The Church's Unity-in Rich Distinction . . . . . . . .170                Editor-in-Chief:  &oL H. C. Hoeksema
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  Publication News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173           Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus Schipper, Rev. Gise J.
  The Erring Views of Dr. H. M. Kuitert (11) . . . . .173                         Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg
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Meditation

                                 The. Church's Unity in Rich Distinction
                                                               Rev.  M. Schipper  -
                                      There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called
                                      in one hope of  your calling; one Lord, one faith, one
                                      baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all,
                                     and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us
                                     is given grace  .according to the measure  of  the gift  of
                                      Christ. "
                                                                                            Ephesians 4: 4-7.

   As God is!                                                               God with the church!
   As it is by Divine ordination in creation!                                       Unity revealed in multiplicity!
   So also it is by the intention of the same decreeing                             God is one, but also three! The richness of the giory


                                                   THE  STAND~4R.D  BEARER                                                  171
                                                     ~                i  `.


of the life of God is revealed in Scripture as consisting in     An organic whole! Nor is she an aggregate of different
a threefold distinction of Personal existence in a most          unrelated parts, but an organism of dependent members.
absolute unity of nature and essence.                            Quite different is she from a society. The latter comes
   Indeed, God is one!                                           into being in a mechanical way, the members adding
   One in essence is He! One in thinking and willing and         themselves to each other and to other members by
acting. One in all His adorable attributes. One in truth         agreement - while the former, the church, has one life
and faithfulness, one in righteousness and holiness, one         principle from which she has her existence. The society
in grace and mercy. One in all the. wonders of His might         consists of a membership which can be increased or
and radiations of His majesty. The one simple, not               diminished  - while the church as organism cannot be
complex, God is He; in Whom all the glorious virtues of          increased or decreased without destroying her unity. All
His Holy Being are one. Like the white sunbeam shining           the members of the church serve the whole, while each
through the raindrop appears to our eye in sevenfold             is dependent on the other. The members have signifi-
color, while the seven colors are still the one sun-ray; so      cance only when they are in their proper place in the
is God the richness  ,of glorious virtues, but all these         whole and so long as they serve the whole. As in the
together are yet the one,. eternally to be praised Being.        human body "the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no
And this unity of Being is the very ground for the               need of thee; and the head cannot say to the feet, I have
perfection of His unending covenant life.                        no need of you. " `So it is in the church, the body of
  Yet God is also three in Persons! The Father living            Christ! The members are dependent on the whole and
that one life as Father. The Son as Son, and the Holy            on each other. How important it is for the church in the
Spirit as Spirit living that one life with the Father. So        world that she thoroughly understand this to fulfill her
that of the Father, through the Son, and in the Spirit           calling!
the eternal God lives the unending, glorious life of the           And one Spirit!
only true covenant God. Were He three and not one,                 As there is one soul in the body, which thinks, wills,
there would be no bond of perfect fellowship. Were God           desires; which brings the whole body into subjection,
one and not three, there would be no interchange of              which rules the movements of the body, directs and
life, but stark monotony. The distinction of Trinity of          leads it, so .there is one Spirit, `the Spirit of God, as He is
Persons on the background of unity of Being is the               given to the ascended and glorified Redeemer, and
richness of the life of God which He purposed to reflect         therefore is the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ Who lives
also outside of Himself in all the works of His hands.           and has taken up His abode.in the church.
  Thus it is also with the life of all creatures! There is in      Mark well, there are not all kinds of opposing spirits
the individual existence of the creature as well as in the       which live in the members of the church, but there is
creatures mutually a rich distinction with harmonious            one Spirit. One Spirit is in all, ruling the thinking and
unity according to the mind of the Creator. This unity           willing of all the members of the whole body of Christ.
with distinction is the law of the life of the creation.         There is therefore in all the members only one mind;
Also here the lack of unity would break the harmony of           and this one mind is the mind of Christ. Moreover, to be
fellowship, while the lack of rich distinction would leave       noticed too is the fact that no one possesses this Spirit
only a stark monotony.                                           of Christ alone and separate from the body. Each has
   So it is also with the life of the  church-  of Jesus         the riches of the Spirit only in connection with and in
Christ!                                                          his own place in the body of Christ.
  This is what the Word of God in our text is all about!            Even as ye are called in one hope of your calling!
  Two things must be kept in mind as we meditate on                 The apostle brings the unity of the Spirit into
it. The text is highly instructive; but in the light of its      immediate connection with the one hope to which we
context is  also. extremely practical., The. church is to        all are called. The reason for this is not difficult to
walk worthy of the vocation  wherewith:she'is called.            discover. The one hope we have, to which we aspire,
(Verse 1). In all humility and meekness, and  long-              comes from that one Spirit of Christ. Hope, you
suffering, forbearing one another in love. (Verse 2). The        understand, not first of all in the sense of an activity on
richness of goodness and grace of God which is her               our part; but more particularly as object to which  we'
portion, she is to reveal in the unity of the Spirit. (Verse     are called - is the glory merited by Christ and prepared
3). But shall she be able to comply with this  admoni-,          by Him for His people. Through this one Spirit of the
tion, it lies in the very nature of  the. case. that the         glorified Lord comes the hope as the object of our
richness of the unity of the Spirit must be real, spiritual,     expectation and longing. This object of hope is for all
reality. Of this ideal, and reality in principle the apostle     .ali.ke, namely, the perfect conformity to the image of
speaks.                                                          our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as complete ,deliverance
  Behold, then, first of all, the unity in which the rich        from the body of ,this death in which we now dwell.
distinction rests!                                                 One Lord we have! Whose possession we are! To
  There is one body! Not many, but one body is she!              Whom we belong in life'and death, in body and soul. To
The realization and revelation of one  Hivine thought!           Whom we were given of the Father, and Who purchased


172                                              THE STAN'DARD BEARER


us with His own blood. Who rules over us and in us by            adoption. unto children, spiritual knowledge of God, life
His Word and Spirit. The Church, therefore, has not              of the resurrection, eternal life. This all is the one grace
many lords, and heads. Nor are there in  the:Church              which all receive and in which all participate.
lords  and. subjects  - but all are subjects of that one           Yet all do not possess this grace in the same way and
Lord.                                                            in the same measure! That all do not receive in the same
   One faith! Many things may cause the unity of the             measure is due to the fact that in the body of Christ all
church to be hid from our vision but there can be no             do not occupy the same place. Each receives grace in
question that the essential unity of faith exists among          such measure as coincides  .with his place in the
all true believers in Christ. And that unity of faith is         organism. As in the human body all members are not
seen, first of all, in its object and contents. The church       the same but are richly distinguished; so it is in the body
has one confession which she holds up as a banner in the         of Christ. All the members are not the same. All serve
midst of the world describing what she believes. But her         the same purpose, but not in the same manner and in
faith is not limited to her confession. It is also as a          the same capacity. One is great, another small; one is on
living, spiritual bond uniting her subjectively to Christ,       the foreground, another on the background; one
and to all the members of His body. Out of that one              teaches, another is taught; one rules, another serves.
faith she lives out of Christ and becomes partaker of all        There is communion and exchange. Thus each member
His benefits.                                                    is in particular blessed and increases and grows in the
   One baptism! Not does the apostle have in mind here           grace and knowledge of Christ., Thus the church shines
the form, but rather the essence of baptism. By this one         in richly distinguished beauty. Each member receives
baptism we are separated from the world, and ingrafted           and uses the one grace in his own manner and place.
into Christ, having part -with Him in His suffering, death,      This goes to the smallest particular. Though we cannot
and resurrection. We are become the friends of God and           now see the place which each has, yet we know it is true
are of His party in the world of darkness. We have been          to the smallest detail  - the simple housewife to the
clothed with His uniform, and are designated as lights in        greatest prophet  - the smallest babe to the greatest
the world, walking worthy of our vocation.                       apostle.
   One God and Father of all! This is the apex, the                But is not the apostle speaking too idealistically of
highest  ,point  of all, the vertex to which all the other       the church? Where should we look for the church which
aspects of unity point, and in which they all find not           is so wonderfully united, and so richly distinguished?
only their source but also their purpose. God Himself is         How is it that wheree'r we look we see the church most
the fountain, cause, origin of the glorious unity of the         usually in history a divided and a splintered group?
church. He willed this beautiful unity before the world            Indeed, there are several factors which explain not
began in Divine wisdom. He chose us in Christ Jesus. He          what she is, but how the church  so. often hides this
ordained the Son to become Head and Mediator of that             unity and the unity is disturbed! First of all, we should
one church. He prepared Christ and sent Him to suffer            mark that the church is not yet perfect according to the
and die, but also to rise again and ascend to highest            Divine plan. Is it not true that part of the church is
glory for the. church. He gave His one Spirit to Christ          triumphant in heaven, while another part enjoys this
and dwells in Him and through Him in the church,                 victory only in principle and is therefore militant on
filling her with all spiritual blessings. To this the apostle    earth? Is it not also .true that part of the church is not
climbs in revealing the great unity. He, one God and             yet born and must still come into historical existence?
Father of all is above all  - above the church with her          And, are there not various conditions which hinder the
Head. He is through all - i.e., through all the glorious         church in the realization of her unity? such conditions
body, working and filling with His grace. And He is in           as include the elements of place, time, difference of
you all - living in us through the Spirit of Christ, and         language, separation of race and color. And, most of all
tabernacling with us.                                            as we look at a particular manifestation of the church
  Such is ideally and principally the unity of the               such as our own, where we would expect to see more of
c h u r c h !                                                    this unity richly distinguished than anywhere else - is
  A unity richly distinguished!                                  not the element of sin the disturbing element disrupting
  Unto every one of us is given grace!. The entire body          the unity and withholding her from reaching perfection?
and each member of the body of Christ receives grace.            Sin  - that disturbing factor that brings with it separa-
  Grace! That spiritual gift which God through Christ            tion, corruption, and death - which still dwells with us
gives to the church! It includes all spiritual gifts, all the    as a body and as individuals. Sin  - whose intent is to
grace, in which the church participates and to which she         destroy, disrupt the peace and unity of the church and
falls heir. The entire church receives grace which' is           disturb the love-life of the church. Sin - that seeks the
essentially one. The reference undoubtedly is to the             honor of self, not that of Christ; that would rather see
reception of the one Spirit, one hope, baptism, com-             the destruction of the brother than to humble itself and
munion of friendship with God, the Father of all. Grace          to be longsuffering and forebearing.
includes justification, sanctification, -forgiveness of sins,      And for the same reasons often the rich distinction


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  173


that ideally characterizes the unity of the church bedims      ideal for which each by grace and all together by grace
the radiations of those distinctions. When the eye will        should seek to attain unto it.
no longer see, but is jealous of the ear; and the foot-will     When you look in on a battle-ship cruising along you
no longer bear, but wills to be borne; and the hand will       do not see its symbolic unity, nor the wonder of its rich
no longer work because it wants another place in the           distinction. Some men are reading books, others are
body. When all would be teachers, and no longer to-be          sunning themselves, and others are playing games. But
taught; when all would be rulers, and no longer subjects;      when the command comes: Man Your Stations! then all
when there are those who seek no longer what is in             run to their places whether they be high or low. Then
Christ, but seek themselves.                                   you see the unity and rich distinction of the battle-ship.
  But so it should not be! And so it shall not forever         And the apostle very really sounds the command: Man
be!                                                            Your Stations! No more clearly is this order sounded
  Therefore the apostle admonishes to strive to keep           than in our text. And no more necessary is obedience to
the unity in the bond of peace, and sets before us the         this command than today!


Editorials

                                          Publication News

  "Behold, He Cometh!"                                         pre-publication sale. In the next issue of the Standard
  The very title tells you immediately that in his             Bearer you will be provided with a return envelope by
thorough-going exposition of the Book of Revelation            means of which you may place your order. The book
the late Rev. Herman Hoeksema discerned the key-note           should come from the press in early spring, about April
of this part of Scripture. And this key-note of Revela-        1. Before actual publication you will be able to buy this
tion  his sounded again and again in the course of the         book for $7.95 postpaid. The regular price will be
exposition which runs through some 53 chapters and             $9.95. A real bargain!
725 pages. In my editorial work of preparing this book           By taking advantage of this bargain you can kill two
for publication the thought struck me repeatedly that          birds with one stone. For by means of this  pre-
this exposition is so "relevant" in the healthy sense of       publication sale the Publications Committee wants to
that misused term that it seems as though it could have        raise the balance of the money needed to meet costs of
been written with today's situation in mind.                   publication.
  In the above paragraph you have the two main                   For your information, this book is written in popular
reasons, in my opinion, why you will want to read              style. You will not be troubled by any foreign languages
"Behold, He Cometh!" It is expository, and it is               in it. Nor is this an ordinary, verse-by-verse commen-
up-to-date for today's Chistian and today's church.            tary. The chapters of this book are essays on large
  Add to this the fact that there is hardly available a        sections of the Book of Revelation, rather than running,
good commentary on the Book of Revelation, and much            verse-by-verse commentary. This makes for easy and
less a commentary written from an "amillennial"                interesting reading.
viewpoint. And you have sufficient reasons for                   Hence, watch the next issue of the  Standard Bearer
purchase.                                                      for your order envelope.
  When and where can you buy this book?                          We will keep you posted on further developments.
  The Publications Committee has decided to conduct a


                  The Erring Views of Dr. H.M. Kuitert (111
                                      An Evaluation of Kuitert's Dogmatical Views

                                                  Pro5 H. C. Hoeksema

More On The Christ-Creation Relationship                       the relation between Christ and creation by one who
  Previously I have referred to and quoted the Rev. H.         holds to the literal interpretation of the creation
Hoeksema's explanation of Colossians 1: 15, ff. as a           account in Genesis. You will recall that Dr. Kuitert
clear instance of a sound and Scriptural delineation of        indicts the so-called traditional theology on this count,


174                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER


and at least by implication claims that this serious fault               they were," or again, "that the worlds were framed by
of not connecting Christ and creation is to be traced to                 the word of God, so that things which are seen were~
its holding to the traditional view of Genesis l-3, with                 not made of things which do appear." Rom. 4': 17;
which Kuitert wants to do away completely.                               Heb. 11: 3. And understanding this, we will be in no
  Over against Dr. Kuitert's position, I maintain,  -                    danger to exchange the teaching of Scripture on this
apart from the question whether there has been any                       point for the philosophy of man with regard to the
weakness on this score among Reformed theologians, -                     origin of the world, and, therefore, also with respect to
I maintain that any such possible weakness is not                        God. Then we will have no inclination whatever to
                                                                         compromise with the theory of evolution, nor admit
inherent  in a literal understanding of Genesis. Any                     that it is capable of offering a solution of the problem
weakness which there may be is not to be traced to a                     it claims to solve, for it can never understand that
Reformed conception of Scripture and to a strictly                       "things which are seen are not made of things which
Reformed conception of creation. And as  one instance                    do appear."
of a .plausible  and Scriptural explanation by a Reformed              The above is worth contemplating for those who are
theologian the late Rev. Hoeksema's thorough-going                   interested in the theological roots of the current
exposition of Colossians 1 was cited.                                departures in the direction of evolutionism. Somewhere,
  Now I want to demonstrate, in addition, that this                  somehow, you will discover, those theologians who are
explanation of Colossians 1 is not an isolated, .aphoristic,         forsaking the truth of creation have first departed from
idea in Hoeksema's theology. On the contrary, it is a                or forgotten the truth of God's eternal counsel.
central thought. It occurs again and again in his                      But now to the specific point. In developing the truth
thinking, and at very crucial points. In fact, it is exactly         of the relation between God's counsel and creation,
the view developed from Colossians 1 which is one of                 Rev. Hoeksema writes as follows, p. 17 1:
the unifying factors in all of Hoeksema's theology.                         . . . All the individual moments in that counsel are
Anyone who is thoroughly acquainted with his writings                    conceived.and arranged in their relation to one another
will be able readily to guess where this conception of                   according to infinite divine wisdom and logic. And this
Christ as the firstborn of every creature is likely' to                  means that in God's mind all these individual moments
occur in his thinking. Permit me to point to various                     are so conceived that all in their own position serve the
passages from his writings.                                              one purpose: the highest possible revelation of-God in
  As might be expected, in the second volume of "The                     the glory of His majesty and the beauty of His triune
Triple Knowledge, An Exposition of the Heidelberg                        covenant life. In this sense, I would never hesitate to
                                                                         maintain that the supralapsarian view of the counsel of
Catechism," in connection with Lord's Day IX, in the                     God is the only true, and biblical, conception. There
chapter entitled "The Eternal Father Creator," (pp.                      is, of course, no time element in God's decree. It is
165, ff.) there is extensive comment both on the                         eternal. We cannot properly speak of before anddfter
doctrine of creation and on the relation between Christ                  when referring to the eternal good pleasure. But there
and creation. Before I quote with respect to the latter                  is perfect subordination of means to ends, and of all
subject, let me quote a few lines which are pertinent                    means to the one end: the glory of God. And this
with respect to the whole subject of creation which is so                means that in God's counsel Christ, and that, too, as
much discussed nowadays.                                                 the incarnated Son of God, as the crucified One that
                                                                         rose again, as the fast begotten of the dead, is in that
         Very properly and beautifully the Heidelberg Cate-              sense "the fnstborn of every creature." Of Him God
       chism, speaking of God's fatherhood with respect to               conceived "first." In Him He purposed to reveal all the
       all things, as the Creator of heaven and earth, mentions          fulness of His glory. And unto Him, i.e., in order that
       God's eternal counsel. It is true that it introduces this         the glory of IIis grace might become fully manifest in
       counsel here, strictly speaking, not in connection with           all its manifold riches, the Church is given as His body
       creation, but as the power whereby God still upholds              by the decree of election. And all the rest, the counsel
       and governs all things; but this necessarily implies that         of reprobation and the counsel of creation, the counsel
       the same universe that is thus upheld by God's counsel            concerning' the fall and the counsel of providence
       was also created according to and by the same eternal             occupy in God's eternal purpose the place of means
       decree.                                                           unto the end of the realization of the glorious Christ
         And let it be understood from the very outset that              and His glorious body dwelling in the tabernacle of
       it is of utmost importance to speak of this eternal               God in the new creation. All things exist for the
       purpose and counsel of God as logically preceding the             Church, the Church exists for Christ, and Christ exists
       act of creation, and to present the whole universe, all           for God!
       that exists in space and time, as the revelation and            At this point the author points out that this
       unfolding of this eternal counsel. For only in this way      conception of God's counsel is derived from Scripture.
       can  we maintain a clear and correct conception of           First of all, he points to the fact that Proverbs 8: 22, ff.
       God's relation to the world as its Creator. Only then        speaks this language beautifully. Concerning this pas-
       can we maintain and somewhat understand, that God,           sage, which speaks of "Wisdom" in. such a striking
       *as the Catechism expresses, it, "out of nothing made        manner, he writes as follows:
       heaven and earth," and that creation reveals Him as                 It is not our purpose now to give a complete
       the One Who "calleth the things that be not as though             exegesis of this most profound and rich portion of


                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   175

     Scripture. For our present purpose it may suffice to                        conceived, and in Whom as the Christ exalted all the
     observe the following: 1. On the one hand, it should                        fuhress must dwell. God is first the "Father of our
     be plain that Wisdom in this section is not identical                       Lord Jesus Christ," and as such He is also the Creator
     with the Logos (the Word) of John 1: l-3. For the                           of heaven and earth. As the Catechism expresses it:
     Logos is the infinite Word God speaks, the personal                         "The eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" made of
    Image of the Father, and is begotten of the Father.                          nothing the heaven and the earth and all things that
    But in this passage Wisdom is distinguished from God,                        are therein, and still upholds them by His eternal
    the Lord, and is created, or formed, i.e., conceived in                      counsel and providence!
    God's mind (Canani,  in the.LXX: ektise). 2. On the
    other hand, the language forbids us to think of a mere                    Nor is all this mere theory and the kind of sterile
    figure of speech, when throughout Wisdom is pre-
     sented as having personal subsistence. This Wisdom,                  supralapsarianism which has often characterized other
    then,                                                                 theologies, concentrating on an abstract theory of the
              though  not itself the eternal Word, has its
    personal subsistence in the Logos. In other words, it is              order of God's decrees. The author had very little
    the whole implication of God's eternal counsel with                   interest in that abstract question; but he never tired in
    respect to all things, the decree of God as the living                his preaching and teaching of referring to the beauty of
    and eternal conception of God, conceived by the                       the above conception. And in the chapter from which I
    Triune God "before the world was," and that, too, of                  have been quoting he points to the implications of this
    the Father, through the Son, and in the Spirit. The                   idea for our view of the significance of creation an,d, in
    eternal Son of God, Who is the perfect and expressed                  ffact, for our whole world-and-life-view. I would like to
    image of the Father, is also the "Mediator of the                     quote all that  he writes  in this connection; but  that
    decree of God," in the sense that in Him, in Whom the                 would be too long a quotation. Let me enumerate some
    Father beholds the infinite perfections of the God-
    head, He now also eternally conceives the reflection                  of the points which he makes, first of all. He points to
    and revelation of those perfections in  -the created                  the following: 1) That in this light we can begin to
    world. Wisdom, then, is the "world-idea" as eternally                 understand how creation reveals God as the absolute
    conceived by the Father, through the Son, `and in the                 Sovereign of all, and as the Father Omnipotent. 2) That
    Holy Spirit.                                                          this  truth of creation teaches us that God's will and
  After  this the author turns to the passage in  Colos-                  counsel are the only raison  d' dtre of the whole universe.
sians 1, the well-known "firstborn  of. every creature"                   The world is exactly as God willed it to be. Creation is
passage; and this time he writes as follows:                              an act of absolute freedom and sovereignty. 3) That this
       To be sure, He of whom the apostle here speaks has                 means that the world, as it was called forth in the
    His personal subsistence in the Son of God, the second                beginning, as it develops in time, and as it will be
    Person of the Holy Trinity. And yet, even as was the                  perfected in the "ages of ages," is the revelation of
    case with Wisdom in Proverbs 8, it is evident that all                perfect divine wisdom, the highest possible revelation of
    that is predicated here of this Firstborn cannot be said              the glory of God, that it is also a complete revelation of
    of the Son of God in the divine nature. Whatever                      God, and that it is the best possible worid. 4) That the
    attempts have been made to explain the expression                     world in the "beginning" was adapted to the end with
    "the firstborn of every creature" so that it might be                 perfect wisdom, i.e., was so created that, through the
    applicable to the divine Son of God, it is very clear
    that this phrase does not apply to the second Person of               deep way of sin and death, it could be raised to the
    the Trinity. He is not the "firstborn of every crea-                  highest possible glory by the power of grace in Christ.
    ture," for He is neither born nor a creature: He is the               Here the author explains as follows:
    eternally begotten God! Nor is the Son as such the                               . . God knows the end from the beginning, and the
    head of the body, or the first begotten from the dead;                       baiter is adapted to the former. When He created the
    nor `even can it be said of the Son of God in the divine                     world, He had that end in view: the highest realization
    nature, that He has the preeminence in ah things, or                         and revelation of His tabernacle with men in Christ
    that by the good pleasure of the Father all the.fulness                      Jesus our Lord! When God in the be-g saw that
    dwells in Him. But all these predicates are readily                          all things were good, the meaning is not simply that
    understood if we apply them to Christ, and that, too,                        they were perfect and flawless, without defect, as they
    as He appears in God's eternal conception of all things,                     had come forth from His hands, but also that they
    that is, in the counsel of God. In that counsel Christ,                      were perfectly adapted to the end He had in view. And
    and that as the firstborn from the dead, the glorified                       that end is the Kingdom of heaven, the  heavenIy
    Christ, in whom all the fulness should dwell, is the                         tabernacle of God with men in Christ. It is because of
    beginning (the archee; the reshith of Prov. S), and the                      this that the things as they were made in the beginning
    firstborn of every creature, Who, in the counsel of God                      are an image of things to come, and that things are
    is not only logically first, but Who as the firstborn,                       done or take place in parables. It is true, of course,
    also opens the womb of creation, and prepares the way                        that without God's revelation in Christ as we have it in
    for all creatures; and again, Who as such hblds the                          the Holy Scriptures, we could never see this reflection
    preeminence above them all. The eternal Son of God,                          of things to come in the things that are made, and that
    the Word that is with God in eternity, and Who is the                        Christ only could point out the parables that take
    express image of His substance, is, as it were, the                          place round about us; but the fact remains that the
    inftite  pattern according to which all things are                           earthy creation reflects the things of the kingdom of


176                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER


       heaven, is. an image of things heavenly. Adam is an                same- purpose and good pleasure according to which
       image of Him that was to come, and Christ is the last              He created all things and governs all things. what then?
       Adam. The First Paradise is an earthly picture of the              Knowing that He is my Father for Christ's sake, I
       Paradise of God in the new creation, and the original              know that in His eternal wisdom He so arranged all
       tree of life is to be fully realized in its heavenly beauty        things that all things must cooperate unto the final
       when all things are made new. The seed that falls in               revelation of Christ, and the salvation of all that are in
       the earth and dies and is quickened again is a parable             Him! Knowing that He is almighty, I am assured that
       of the resurrection, both in its spiritual, and its                He will surely accomplish all His good pleasure, so that
       physical sense. The sun that dispels the darkness of the           nothing can betide me but by His will. And knowing
       night is an image of the Sun of righteousness, and the             that He loves me, and that, too, with an eternal and
       moon that floods the night with its mellow light, and              immutable love, manifested in the death of His Son, I
       assures us that the sun is still there, though we do not           trust that He will surely cause all things to work
       see her, is a silent preacher of the promise of God that           together unto my salvation. And so, the believer in
       the Sun will rise again in all its glory in the Day of the         Christ relies on Him entirely, confident that all things
       Lord. And so all creation, the lion and the lamb, the              always work together for good to them that love God!
       soaring eagle and the strong ox, the tall cedar and the            The eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
       sturdy oak, the mighty mountain and the barren                     Creator omnipotent, the only Potentate of potentates,
       desert, the flashing lightning and the rolling thunder,            the God of our salvation, is my God and Father!
       storm and zephyr, earthquake and eruption, color and .
       number, as well as man in all the relations of man and           This, I submit, is solid stuff! It is Reformed. It is
       wife, brother and sister, father and son, king and             Scriptural. It is relevant for the present evil moment, -
       subject, - all speak the language of redemption to us,         much more relevant than all the universalistic, social
       if our ear is only attuned and made receptive by the           gospel tripe which is being passed off as so highly
       Word of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so, all the          relevant today in Reformed circles. And here is a word
       works of God are one, even as He is One. They were             for those who are forevermore talking about the
       one in the beginning. For God did not create a mere
       number of creatures, but a cosmos, rising by His               kerugma, the message: here, if you please,is the kemgma
       creative power from the darkness                               of creation! But remember, if you take creation (and I
                                            of the chaos in a suc-
       cession of creatures higher and higher, until they             mean  Biblical creation)  away, you at once destroy the
       reached their pinnacle in man; in whose heart the              kerugma too. And no vague philosophy of a Kuiterian
       whole cosmos was united with the heart of God: a               teaching model will serve as a substitute for the evangel!
       kingdom, in which all creatures must serve man, that             I promised to show how this concept recurs in the
       man might serve his God. But they are also one, in that        late Herman Hoeksema's theology. I have already
       the beginning is connected with and adapted to the             quoted at length, however; and I cannot take more
       end: the new creation that will forever be united with         space for quotations. Besides, I have amply set forth his
       God in the heart of Immanuel, God with us!                     conception of the relation between Christ and creation
  Finally, in this chapter Rev. Hoeksema relates all this             in the quotations already given. For the rest, let me
to the Christian's faith and to his only comfort in life              merely point the reader to several more instances where
and death, as follows:                                                this same concept occurs. First of all, this idea is found
         what does it all mean? . . . The central idea the            repeatedly in this same series; "The Triple Knowledge,
       Catechism here expresses (in Lord's Day 9, HCH) must           An Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism."
       be grasped clearly: it is the God and Father of our               1. In Vol. 2, pp. 209, ff., in connection with the
       Lord Jesus Christ, and that, too, not only as the              doctrine of God's' providence.
       eternal Father of the eternal Son, but also as. the
       Father of Jesus Christ, that created all things according        2. In Vol. 3, pp. 44, ff., in connection with the idea
       to His eternal counsel; and who as such is my God and          of the office of Christ, Lord's Day XII.
       Father for Christ's sake; hence, by faith I may put the          3. As might be expected, in Vol. 4, pp. 32, ff., there
       present evil moment in God's perfect counsel of                is a detailed explanation again of Col. 1: 15, ff., in
       wisdom and love, and believe that all is well!                 connection with the idea of Christ's resurrection. And
         God is the eternal Father of the elect. 0, it is true,       of the Colossians passage Hoeksema himself writes this
       He is the Father of all in the sense that He brought           time: "Glorious, all-embracing conception! Here is a
       them forth, created them. But in the true, spiritual           `world-and-life-view,' a truly divine philosophy, if you
       sense, He is the Father only of His own, whom He gave          please, as you could never expect to arise in the heart of
       to Christ in His eternal counsel. For through sin men          man!"
       became the children of their father the devil, and do
       his will. They neither have the right nor the power to           4. In Vol. 5, pp. 37, ff., in connection with the
       be children of God. We must not follow modernism in            subject of the election of the church.
       its boast of a universal fatherhood of God. But in               Also in `<Reformed Dogmatics" by the same author
       Christ, and for His sake, we obtain the right to- be           this same view repeatedly occurs. I will not mention all
       called children of God, and by His grace we are also           the references, but only point to the chief one, the very
       conformed according to the image of His Son. And all           thorough and beautiful. exposition of the "Pactum
       tlls is realized according to God's eternal purpose, that      Salutis" in the section on Christology, Chapter 1, pages


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            177


285, ff. This, in my opinion, is one of the finest                that Reformed theology, holding to the strict and literal
chapters in that entire work, and worthy of careful               interpretation of Genesis, is not capable of connecting
study.                                                            Christ and creation.
  Qnce again, therefore, in conclusion, let no one say


All Around Us

                                     Reactions t liberalism
                               Contact                           en the C.R.C.
                                and the                          ian Reformed
          Seminary Students Not nterested in the Ministry
                                                          Pro5 H. Hanko

REACTIONS TO LIBERALISM                                               discussion between the panel and the Zeeland audi-
   The Standard Beaver has carried many articles in its               ence,, but the main discussion occurred between Prof.
columns which demonstrate the increasing liberalism in                Augustijn, Drs. Baarda and the three panel members. It
the Gereformeerde Kerken in the Netherlands. Men like                 was striking that the two Free University lecturers did
Prof. Kuitert, Prof. Augustijn and Drs. Baarda lead the               not take time to subscribe at any point to the
way in introducing in the Church the most liberal views.              Reformed position set forth by the panels.
                                                                           "`Dr. Arntzen had referred to an article written by
   But there are those who raise their voice in protest.              Dr. Augustijn in answer to Prof. H. N. Ridderbos',
From the December 17 issue of the R.E.S. Newsletter                   criticism of the "`Reliability of the Gospels" (by Drs.
we quote the following:                                               Baa&).  .At the time Prof. Ridderbos refuted academi-
          Like many a church today, the Reformed Churches             cally both Drs. Baarda's N.T. study and Dr. Augustijn's
     in the Netherlands have an `association of concerned.'           views (Gereformeerd Weekblad, May/June 1967). The
     They claim that a "great landslide is on the move in             two professors, though they did not change their
     the Reformed Churches." There are also those who are             views, took no  offence at Prof. Ridderbos' rebuke.
     troubled about how the `concerned' express them-                 However, at the Middleburg meeting Prof. Augustijn
     selves and make charges against persons in the church.           showed himself deeply hurt by Dr. Arntzen's words.
          Meetings were held in October in Middleburg and             He said, "I do not recognize myself from the account
     Urk by a group of `concerned' Christians. Miss T.E. N.           given by Dr. Arntzen." There was an absolute short-
     Ozinga, who helped organize the meeting, reported the            circuit between the two. . . . "
     following:                                                            In reply to questions by Dr. Arntzen and Dr.
          "On October 3rd a meeting organized by a local               Douma, Prof. Augustijn said he did not believe that
     committee in which five Reformed denominations                   Adam was the first man. Nor did he believe Christ's
     were represented was held at Middleburg, Zeeland, The            resurrection body was identical to his previous body.
     Netherlands. The meeting was presided over by the                Particularly at this point the discussion was confused
     Rev. Paul Van Til, senior pastor of the Reformed                 and confusing. . . .
     Church of Middleburg. The speakers were: Dr. Arntzen                  At a rally at Urk the `association of the concerned"
     (Reformed): "Freedom of Exegesis"; Dr. Douma                     listened to Mr. H. W. Maaskant who made a strong
     "Reformed Liberated): "God's Revelation in Word                   appeal against the "growing stream of unbelief."
     and Fact"; Rev. Op den Velde (Christian Reformed):                "Whoever wants to solve the problem of Scripture
     "Adam, the fast Man and Head of the Human Race."                  with a criticism of Scripture will pay the price of his
     Each spoke for 15 minutes on his topic under the                 belief in Scripture," he observed.
     general theme (`The Authority of Holy Scripture."                     The meeting sent a telegram, according to  Kerk-
          "The Free University came into special focus                nieuws, to the Curatorium of the Free University to
     because Prof. Augustijn, Drs. Baarda and a number of             express "concern and indignation' at the statements
     student supporters had come to Middleburg by special              of Prof. C. Augustijn, in particular with regard to the
     coach.                                                           historicity of Adam.
          "The organizing committee had hoped for a good                   The same issue of Kerknieuws reported that a


178                                                       THE  STANDARD   BEARER



        society was organized to publish a new Christian                 2) That the Christian Reformed Church "had adopted
        newspaper. The ,new organization `fKoers" finds the            a new approach to Church-correspondence and Ecume-
        present Christian dailies "generally Christian; broadly        nicity on the basis of a theory of "pluriformity" of the
        ecumenical and strongly world conformists." Earlier a
        new radio association had been formed in protest to            Church,. in which ALL existing Churches, even the
        the Christian radio association now operating.                 Roman Catholic Church, are called `Churches of Christ'
           In response to the expressions of concern, Prof. R.         and `parts of the one and indivisible Body of Christ' "
       Schippers answered in Vrije Universitietsblad to 26               The arguments for continuing contact were:
        persons who had written in to explain that they could            1) The fruitfulness of previous contacts. Obstacles
        not longer support the Free University, He expressed           have been taken out of the way; especially the obstacles
        regret that so many of the concerned persons who live          of the Conclusions of Utrecht (1908) and the Three
        so close to the Free University understand so little of        Points of Common Grace (1924). Not. everyone, how-
        what is going on in the church, in christendom  today.         ever, was happy about the way in which these obstacles
        and in the world.                                              were removed.
           Following meetings in Middleburg and Urk, four                2) The new Church Order of the Christian Reformed
        week-end conferences were organized in the northern
        provinces to reflect upon the teaching and life of the         Churches was essentially what the Canadian Reformed
        Reformed churches.                                             Churches wanted.
           A feature article in Centrall Weekblad by the Rev. J.         3) Since contact had been started, it could not
        Overduin spoke of the two kinds of concern in the              suddenly be cut off.
        Reformed Churches. Mr. Overduin found it "oppres-                The one big issue therefore, remained the contact
        sive" that many in the church view sin, guilt and the          between the IChristian Reformed and the Gereformeerde
        sense of sin as strange entities and feel little need for      Kerken. The Synod was agreed that contact could not
        grace in Christ. . . .                                         go on if this matter was not dealt with. Hence the final
  There is more; but this is sufficient to give some                   decisions included these elements:
general idea of the form opposition is taking in the                     1)  "1908", "1924" and the new Church Order need
Netherlands to' the liberalism running wild in the                     no longer be discussed. These obstacles have been
Church. As we read these various news items, our                       removed.
reaction is along two lines. First of all, we have great                 2) The new deputies were instructed to put, before
sympathy for those who are fighting against the evils in               any thing else, the issue of contact with the  Gerefor-
their Church. Especially is this true because the battle               meerde Kerken to the Christian Reformed delegates. If
seems so hopeless. And the hopelessness of the battle is               the Christian- Reformed Church would not discuss this
to be found in the fact that there is no willingness to                matter, contact had to be discontinued.
discipline those who teach heresy. Where discipline is                   3) In case. the resolution of point 2 was successful,
gone, ,the battle is lost. But secondly, our reaction is one           the Deputies had to bring up the matter of the
of mild surprise. Not surprise that the battle is being                principles of the Christian Reformed Church to Church-
fought at all, but rather that the battle is being waged in            correspondence.
what appears to be minor skirmishes. It would seem that                  Our readers will recall that the obstacles of "1908"
the deadly seriousness of the errors being taught in the               and "1924" were removed by the Christian Reformed
Gereformeerde Kerken would require greater vigor and                   Church by declaring the Conclusions of Utrecht no
more forthright opposition than the above article                      longer binding and by taking approximately the same
suggests is actually taking place. But perhaps it is                   decision on Common Grace which was taken in the De
difficult to tell from our side of the ocean.                          Wolf return. Hence, it seems that the Canadian Re-
CONTACT BETWEEN THE C.R.C. AND THE                                     formed Churches are ready, at least in a measure, to
CANADIAN REFORMED                                                      submit to the decisions on Common Grace. To these
  We have recently read in the church magazine of the                  Churches, the real obstacle is contact with the
Canadian Reformed Churches the latest which their                      Gerformeerde Kerken. It is not surprising that this
Synod decided on contacts with the Christian Reformed                  should be the issue. It is from the Gereformeerde
Church. Some of these decisions are of interest.                       Kerken that the people of the Canadian Reformed
  The issue was whether Synod would appoint Deputies                   Church were expelled. It would be a denial of their
to continue contact. There were overtures for and                      separation to join with a Church which maintains
against. The overtures against continuing contact listed               fraternal relations with the Gereformeerde Kerken.
several objections:                                                   SEMINARY STUDENTS NOT INTERESTED IN THE
  1) That the Christian Reformed Church had not                       MINISTRY
entered into the Appeal of the Canadian Reformed                         We have before us an interesting quote from Lu thevan
Churches sent in 1963. This appeal had to do especially               News which we give without comment.
with the fellowship the Christian Reformed Church                             Rev. Lester Kinsolving, a liberal Episcopalian minis-
maintains with the Gereformeerde Kerken. This was a                        ter who rejects the Christian doctrine of Hell wrote
major issue in the whole debate.                                                 * ."New York's Union Theological Seminary an-         I
                                                                           . . . .


                                       i :

                                              :          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         179



      nounced recently that less than one quarter of its                   nary, St. Louis, are experiencing the same problem. An
        graduating class planned- to enter the parish ministry.            increasing number of graduates are simply not inter-
          "This should have sent a shock wave rolling through
 3                                                                         ested in becoming parish pastors and foreign mission-
        the churches, especially as it was disclosed in a time             aries. Why should students, who are taught that the
        when more men are leaving the parish ministry than                 heathen can be saved without Christ, be interested in
        ever before."                                                      mission work?
          Other liberal seminaries, such as Concordia Semi-


The Strength of Youth

                                              The Basis for Dissent (1)
                                                            Rev. J. Kovteving

      Anything can become an object of dissent.                        "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
      The reality of this is all too obvious to us. You name           of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
it and we've got it in this country: anti-segregation,                 abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the
anti-communism, anti-war, anti-bomb, anti-population                   right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to
explosion, anti-poverty, anti-illiteracy, anti-cruelty to              petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
animals, anti-Semitism,  anti-crime, and so on.                          We conclude that the problem of dissent involves two
      I suppose covenant youth could compose their own                 things, whether there is a basis for the accusation that
list: anti-parental snooping, anti-Covenant Christian                  the 14th Amendment is being violated, - in other words
High, anti-30-week catechism season, anti-hypocrisy in                 is there a proper  reason  for dissent,  - and whether those
the church, anti-opponents of drama and so on.                         who express their dissent are doing so within the
      One wonders whether anyone is fov anything.                      fframework  -of the 1st Amendment of the Constitution,
      As we treat the general subject of the right of dissent,         - in other words must they be given this right and
we must now pin-point our subject. We must ask the                     protection according to the law of our land.
question, against what are objections expressed, what is                 In this article we would like to begin considering the
advocated as a replacement, and on what basis.                         ffirst aspect of the problem and formulate our inquiry
      In order that we may zero in on the heart of the                 this way: should covenant youth make it their concern
issue, we must admit that the unrest in our country                    whether or not all the citizens of our land have in fact
revolves. around the interpretation and application of                 the protection of the 14th Amendment, to investigate
our Constitution. This is expressed most succintly in the              this, to express dissent if they do not, and to advocate
14th Amendment, Section 1, "All persons born  .or                      proper protection so that all do enjoy the rights of
naturalized in the United States, and subject to the                   citizenship?
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States                  On what basis will we determine this?
and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall
make or enforce  any law which shall abridge the                       HUMANISM A FALSE BASIS
privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;               A great deal of clamor surrounds the current issue of
nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or            civil rights. This movement has put into focus the
property, without due process of law; nor deny to any                  guarantees of the 14th Amendment as they apply
person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the             specifically to the concrete situation of black America
laws."                                                                 and poor America which most frequently are  .synony-
      The issue of dissent, as it is popularly discussed in our        mous. Are we doing justice to them or are we guilty of
day, concerns itself with eradicating injustice and                    violating the 14th Amendment as it applies to their
promoting justice for all the citizens no matter what                  situation? Justice is considered from 2 points of view.
race, ethnic group, social standing, economic status, or               The first is the legal aspect. Do we have laws, state or
creed. In a word it concerns itself with civil rights.                 federal, that do not give black America the same
      Closely related to the rights of each individual citizen         privileges as white America? Are these laws interpreted
and the protection of these rights as stated in the 14th               and enforged differently, all depending whether a black              .
Amendment, is also the right to express disagreement                   or white citizen is involved? The second aspect of justice
with the present status and advance views which are not                concerns itself with the moral application of these laws
popularly accepted. This involves the 1st Amendment,                   by the citizens. This involves the knotty problem of


  180                                                -~-HE  STANDARD   BEARER


  equal opportunity. It is conceivable that good laws              ous parts of our world community are so great that
  prevail in our land, that the courts interpret these laws        agreed policies of cooperation run into reefs of hostility
  consistently no matter who is involved, and that-the             and  envy, The gaps in power, the gaps in wealth, the
  judicial branch of our government enforces them with-            gaps in ideology which hold the nations apart also make
  out regard to color or economic standing, but that the           up the abyss into which mankind can fall to annihila-
  people, the citizens themselves, negate the effect of            tion It is on these disproportions that world policy has
  these laws by discrimination. Morality involves more             to concentrate  - restoring a reasonable balance of
  than legislation; it includes the free and willing ob-           power between continents, a reasonable balance of
  servance of laws that have been enacted. The law may,            wealth between the planet's developed Nations and
  for example, guarantee fair employment, but if  the              underdeveloped South, a reasonable balance of under-
  employer refuses to hire the colored man or the fellow           standing and tolerance between the world's rival creeds.
  workers refuse to work next to him, the effect of the            Then when the grosser inequalities have been remedied,
  law is obviously nil. Discrimination is a moral issue that       there can be more hope of building the common
  relates to justice.                                              institutions, policies, and beliefs which the crew of
     All the problems that surround these basic issues m           Spaceship Earth must acquire if they are to have any
  our society today are one thing. We must ask, on what            sure hope of survival." Spaceship Earth, Barbara Ward.
  basis must a Christian be concerned with these issues,              Humanism is obviously anti-God. We cannot join the
  particularly as they apply to his neighbor.                      civil rights movement on this basis. It is so diabolical
     Let's notice that the  "civil  rights movement" has           because it denies the curse of God upon the sinner,
  taken on the glamor of  "`human  rights." As covenant            Rom. 1: 22-32. It claims the possibility of establishing a
  young people we must conclude here and now that this             good society on the quagmire of human corruption,
  cannot serve as a basis for our concern with the problem         thereby denying the redemption and restoration of the
  of civil rights.                                                 people of God in Jesus Christ, Eph. 4: 24,25. Hence the
    In order to keep this reasonably brief, let's point out        words of II Peter 2: 12, 1 , and 19 apply, "These, as
  a few salient "principles" of Humanism. First; the goal          natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed,
  of the Humanist consists in the realization of an ideal          speak evil of the things that they understand not; and
  society here on earth. This means that all men must              shall utterly perish in their own corruption . . . for when
  have equal rights, all people over the whole earth must          they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure
  have equal opportunity, all must share in the wealth,            through the lusts of the flesh, through much wanton-
  power,  .peace, and freedoms of the human race. Em-              ness, those that were clean escaped from them who live
  phasis must not rest on the white, black, red, or yellow         in error. While they promise them liberty, they them-
  race, but the human race. Secondly, to consummate this           selves are the servants of corruption, for of whom a man
  perfect society of Man, all people must co-operate to            is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage."
  eradicate obstacles to its realization. This must take place     HUMAN BROTHERHOOD A FALSE BASIS
  in all spheres of human existence;govemments must use               There is no essential difference between Humanism
diplomacy, scientists must use ingenuity, educators                and what we here call Brotherhood. Rather, it is a
  must use proper methodology, etc. All men everywhere             further development of the basic tenets of Humanism
  must co-operate in this venture in order that the ideal          wrapping them up in the cellophane of religion.
  human society may be realized. Thirdly, the possibility             In many ways this approach to civil rights is -more
  of success rests upon the innate goodness of man. Man            deadly  foi, Covenant youth. This is at once apparent
  still possesses some instincts of his animal ancestry, but       when we consider that it assumes to itself a "christian"
  in due process of the social evolution, he will outgrow          basis. The advocates of human brotherhood put on a
  these and mature into the kind of human being that will          cloak of Piety, but in reality are wolves in sheep's
  gladly accept his place in the universal human society.          clothing. They speak at length of Christ and Chris-
  The Humanist is optomistic. He is confident that man's           tianity, but deny the blood of the atonement and
  rationality will convince him that it is better to share his     clamor for  `a Christ who is not very God, but a mere
wealth with the poor than to be selfish and expose the             man who nevertheless is a worthy example of human
  human race to nuclear warfare. He will hold to his               kindness.
  ideology, but grant the. right to others to have their              It is this influence in America, that propels the civil
  views as long as they all agree on the basic rights of the       rights movement into the arena of the "church." Many
  human family. Nations will finally  grow.up and grant            churches spend hours in torrid debate concerning what
  the right of co-existence to all powers, thereby freeing         position the church must take on the latest issues.
  billions of dollars now spent on defense and allowing            Clergymen spend their time getting involved in local
  this to be used for the care of the poor, education of the       committees in order that they may avoid the charge by
  illiterate, and the solving of social problems.                  a militant segment in society accusing the church- of
    Listen to the eloquent voice of Humanism, "But                 preaching pious platitudes, but being hypocrites in the
 today the differences and disproportions between vari-._          cities.


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                               181


  Brotherhood has become the shibboleth which admits              shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord
a church or individual into the local club of "in" people.        that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift
They are "`with it."                                      .       destruction," mentioned in II Peter 2: 1.
  Brotherhood that flows from the "milk of human                     Next time D. V. we shall show bow this applies to
   dness" is the greatest farce of our generation. Not            such a man as the former Dr. Martin Luther
only does it not exist (see  COP. 3: 5- 1, but it stands          World Council of Churches which spells out the "Ten
opposed to all that God gives in His.Word. The ominous            Commandments" for youth who are involved in civil
call of brotherhood that resounds from shore to shore in          rights, and others.
our America the Beautiful must be discerned by                       We must see why brotherhood cannot serve as a basis
covenant youth as the roar of the beast that comes forth          for covenant youth to become interested and involved
from the earth who "`exerciseth all the power of the first        in social justice and arise in dissent to that which one
beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which            considers injustice.
dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly               There is and must be a much deeper basis, a basis that
wound was healed," Rev. 13: 1 l-l 8. This is anti-christ.          does not throw covenant youth into the arms of the
His movement is described by Paul in H Thess. 2: 3, 4,            false prophets, but causes him to stand diametrically
"Let no  ma.n deceive you by any means; for that day              opposed to him.
shall not come except there come a falling away first,               This we find in the Scriptural injunction, "Love thy
and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;            neighbor as thyself". If there is to be dissent, it must be
who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is               for God's sake or it is vanity.
called God, or that is  worshipped; so that he as God                The dissent of covenant youth is like a voice crying in
sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is          the wilderness.
God." These are the "false prophets . . . who privily


A Cloud of Witnesses

                 .                       Absalom and  Amnon

                                                        Rev. B. Wopdenbevg

                                       Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying
                                     Mark ye now when Amnon's heart is mewy with wine,
                                     and when I say unto you> Smite Amnon;  then kill him,
                                     fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous,
                                   and be valiant.
                                       And the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon  as
                                     Absalom had commanded. . . .
                                       But Absalom fled* and went to Tab&, the son of
                                     Ammihud, king  of  Geshur. And David mourned  for  his
                                     son every  day.
                                                                   IISamuell3:  28,29,37

  Absalom had always despised  Amnon.  Amnon  .was                years Absalom had mulled over these thoughts until
simply by every measure his inferior.' Not only was he of          they formed a deep well of bitterness and resentment
inferior birth with a mother who was an ordinary                   within his soul.
commoner while his mother was a princess from Geshur,                It was the rape of his sister Tamar, however, that
but Amnon was inferior in intelligence, appearance and             finally brought everything to a peak. Here was brought
bearing too - a crude man, however a person looked,at              out and thrown in Absalom's face everything that he
him. It was that which to the mind. of Absalom had                 despised in his brother. Here was that rough crudeness
always constituted the irony of the whole situation for            that marked  Amnon's inferior nature; here was that
Amnon was the older and the proper heir to the royal               arrogant presumption that made him so unworthy to be
throne.  ,It..just  ,did not seem right that one so all-over       a king; here was that selfish presumption that could
inferior should have the preference because of a mere              only make him despicable in everybody's eyes; and,
matter of age. Even David their father, Absalom had                above all, here was the ignoring of the fact that Tamar
every reason to believe, preferred him over Amnon. For             was the daughter of a princess, just as he was her son, -


182                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


a slight which. Absalom could never forgive. For days          point, Absalom was even more insistent so that finally
upon days Absalom found himself consumed with                  David gave his consent at least to that.
suppressed fury while he waited for his father to do              Only when all had reached the stage where the plans
justice to  `,  Amnon as the law demanded. But no, his         had been laid and his brothers were actually gathered
father  did' nothing, and it only increased his internal       together at his feast did Absalom share his intentions
fury. Where was his father's sense of justice? Where was       with any other. He called to him several trusted servants
his father's commitment to the law? Why was not                and instructed them, "Mark ye now when  Amnon's
Amnon put immediately to death for such a heinous              heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you;
sin? Slowly' the rage of Absalom began to grow and             Smite  Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I
broaden out until it included in its sphere also his           commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant."
father.                                                           It was a cowardly move, as justice taken into one's
  Absalom was by nature, though, a careful and                 own hand is always cowardly. It was almost as though
thorough man. Outwardly he did and said nothing at all.        Absalom had taken a page from the example of his
In fact, he even tried to calm the feelings of Tamar by        father, who had used the stupefying effects of wine,
saying, "Hold now thy. peace, my sister: he is thy             albeit unsuccessfully, in his efforts to ensnare Uriah.
brother; regard not this thing." But inwardly he began         One can only imagine the shock which came to the rest
to lay his own plans.                                          of the sons of David as, in the midst of a most
  It was a full two years before the opportunity came          light-hearted and jovial occasion, they lifted their eyes
for which Absalom was waiting. As it was, their father         to witness the execution of their eldest brother and the
had given to each one of his matured sons a farm or            heir apparent of Israel's throne. To their minds, there
large plot of land from which they could take their            could be only one intention  - that was, to kill all of
living'. Absalom's portion included a stretch of pasture       them one by one. The result was that rather than
land upon which he grazed a large flock of sheep. It           turning upon Absalom they all fled from the room and
meant that each year at sheepshearing time, after the          from the farm as quickly as they could.
custom of the nation, a large feast was held for all of the       For David the shock was even greater. In that day
workers an'd for whatever friends one might like to            there was, of course, no faster means of communication
invite. For Absalom his problem regarding Amnon was            than what could be carried by word of mouth.
simply this - how couldhe  get his brother to come into        Accordingly it was considered to be a great attainment
his own home -where his servants would be able to give         and often worthy of great reward to bring an important
to him his just deserts. It was not an easy thing to do,       message first to the ears of a commander or king. Thus
for  Amnon was' quite aware of Absalom's animosity             it was that as soon as the first thought arose as to the
toward him, particularly because ever since the rape of        intent of Absalom to slay all of the king's sons, one of
Tamar Absalom had absolutely refused to speak to him.          the messenger servants left the room and ran as swiftly
But the way he had it planned, Absalom was quite sure          as possible to bear the message to the king. To him it
that in the sheepshearing feast, he could find the             did not seem to be too much of an embellishment to
opportunity he was looking for.                                state the massacre which he had seen begun with his
  The plan of Absalom was to get  Amnon to come                own eyes with the slaying of  Amnon, as an already
down to his farm by inviting all the brothers to the           completed fact. Thus the word delivered to David was,
sheepshearer's feast. In fact, he went even a step further     "Absalom bath, slain all of the king's sons, and there is
to alleviate any hesitancy which Amnon might have to           not one of them `left." It was a stunning blow which
come along with the rest; he invited also their father         came with such numbing force that all David could do
David to come along. Surely no one would suspect his           was to tear his outer garments and to fall in near faint to
intended violence when the king himself was being              the earth.
invited to be among them. Possibly Absalom had                   There David might well have lain for some time
suspected already that David would not be able to make         except for the presence of Jonadab. Jonadab, a nephew
the trip, and maybe his fury had reached such a peak           of David's, was one of those cold and calculating but
that he wanted even his father to witness what was in          extremely clever men who often do so well in the
his.mind, an execution of perfect justice. As it was,          presence of the mighty. This man had been living in the
though, David .was quite aware of Absalom's sensitive          court and watching with detached but careful interest
and conniving nature, so that he suspected that there          the feud which was developing between Absalom and
must be some ulterior motive that brought forth this           Amnon. In fact, he had been the one who had suggested
gesture of generosity from his son. Thus he answered           to  Amnon how the opportunity for the rape of Tamar
with. the excuse, "Nay, my son, let us not all now go,         might be set up; and then, once it was an accomplished
lest we be chargeable unto thee." And, although                fact, he had watched with keen interest the reaction
Absalom pressed him, he would not change his mind. In          upon Absalom. To him the message of the servant came
fact, he did not even like the idea of letting Amnon go        with absolutely no surprise at all. He had been expecting
down into the stronghold of Absalom; but upon this             it. But at the same time, he was absolutely sure that the


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   183


design of Absalom was directed exclusively against              aroused within him the  .conviction.  that. he  wasthe
Amnon and no one else. So confident was he of this              natural successor to t-he throne rather, than  Amnon.
evaluation that he did not as much as hesitate to step          From his-earliest. youth David had taken to his son
forth to contradict the messenger that had claimed to           Absalom like he had never taken to any of the others.
have seen all and say, "Let not my lord suppose that            Possibly it was the prettiness of the child together with
they have slain all the young men the king's sons; for          his cleverness of mind, the intensity of his feelings and
Amnon only is dead: for by the appointment of                   the winning nature of his personality. All told it had
Absalom this hath been determined from the day that             made of Absalom a child which David could not resist.
he forced his sister Tamar. Now therefore let not my            To have the child with him and to keep him in a happy
lord the king take the thing to his heart, to think that all    smiling mood was one of the greatest pleasures the king
the king's sons are dead: for Amnon only is dead."              ever had. Here was something Absalom remembered,
  It was strange, but the deductions of Jonadab seemed          and upon which he was sure he could count to return
to carry more conviction in them than did those of the          him to favor in the end.
messenger who had come directly from the scene. Even              What Absalom had anticipated was actually very true.
more, there was something about his cool, calculated            It was not long before Amnon, being dead, was almost
bearing that seemed to carry across the feeling that what       forgotten by the king; but Absalom was never far
had happened was not really so serious after all. To be         removed from his mind. Again and again David's
sure, it was with tears and weeping that the sons of the        thoughts went out in longing for this favorite son far
king were greeted as they began to arrive terror stricken       removed from him in banishment. So intense were his
and trembling at the palace very soon thereafter.               feelings of longing that soon all evidence of pleasure and
Nevertheless, there remained the feeling underneath that        happiness were removed from the face of the king, and
it was a wonderful thing that only Amnon was dead of            accordingly also from the court which gathered before
them all.                                                       him. Absalom did in very deed hold a very special place
  Nevertheless, a terrible thing had happened in Israel         within the king's heart.
which could not be ignored and forgotten- David knew              Nevertheless, in one thing Absalom had under-
this, and Absalom knew this  too: His plan from the             estimated. Not having himself any real sense of justice,
beginning had included the realization that he would            he had failed to allow for the intensity of his father's
have to flee from the land of Israel, at least for a time.      commitment to God's law. As much  .as David loved
But that was not so bad. His mother's father was king in        Absalom, he could not forget that he was a murderer. It
Geshur and he could stay there with as much ease as he          was all that he could do to leave the young man in
had known in Jerusalem. Moreover, although David                banishment without pursuing after him; but to bring
would have had it completely within his power to                him back without exacting punishment was more than
pursue him there for the sake of justice, he would              David's conscience could bear. Thus it was, that rather
undoubtediy hesitate to endanger friendly relationships         than being soon recalled into the presence of his father,
with another king, even one who was subject to him.             year after year passed by with Absalom left in banish-
  Beyond this, there was also another factor which              ment away from all of the activity of the great city ,of
Absalom was counting on considerably. This was the              Jerusalem and the splendor of the court. It was more
very special favor which he had always held in the eyes         than a disappointment to him. It became the occasion
of his father. It had always been there for as long as he       for greater bitterness and hatred within the recesses of
could remember, and it was perhaps this that had first          his wicked soul.



                                       Correspondence and Reply

Dear Editor,                                                    attempt reformation of his Church, he must first leave
   In Prof. H. Hanko's article "Synod's Authority and           his Church. As an example Luther is mentioned.
the Believer's Conscience" he writes, "I agree with the            I would first note that we are here dealing with a
basic thrust of the letter which De Jonge criticizes." I Church whose leaders are attempting to corrupt the
would summarize his position as `follows. If a child of         Church. This is the position Luther was in. However,
God sees leaders in his Church take the denomination            this is the only similarity, for Luther used many other
down roads of apostacy, he must -do all he can to turn          means to attempt reformation in the Church. He never
the Church back to the truth. However, he is limited to         left the Church, but was cast out. To show his contempt
appeal, and any other action leads to dissension,               for his censure by apostatizing leaders, he publicly
anarchy, rebellion, and schism. Further, if he would            burned his excommunication papers. He said he would


184                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


never be bound by the decisions of councils, unless they        agree. We must part ways. You and I disagree on
were proved by the Word of God.                                 fundamental questions of the Word of God. I am
   Thus it' has been with many reformers. They testified        convinced of the justice of my way. You are, appar-
against apostatizing leaders until they were cast out.          ently, convinced of the right of your's The time has
This was the case with Huss, De Cock, and also Rev. H.          come for us to part." This is, by the way, precisely the
Hoeksema. The apostatizing leaders are rebellious, not          position which Van  Dellen  and Monsma take in their
those who testify against them. If God's servants are           Commentary on the Church Order. Cf. e.g., p. 146.
faithful to him, may we call them rebellious?                     But let us turn to the historical figures which Mr.
   When the apostles Peter and John  .were confronted           Elzinga refers to in support of his contention.
with apostatizing leaders, they said, "Whether it be right        He refers first of all to Martin Luther. This is hardly
in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto          an adequate example. Nor did I refer to Luther in this
God, judge ye." (Acts 4: 19)                                    connection. I referred to Luther, not as an example of
   In conclusion shouldn't we say to Rev. De Jonge,             the proper way to protests evils in the Church, but by
"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of                  way of illustrating the difficulty of coming to a decision
season; . . . For the time will come when they will not         whether to submit to the Church or to leave. The fact is
endure sound doctrine." (II Timothy 4: 2, 3)                    that Luther lived within the heirarchical Roman Catho-
REPLY                                         Louis Elzinga     lic Church. No door was open to him to appeal any
                                                                decisions whatsoever. The principle  ennunciated  by
   I take it that Mr. Elzinga's objections to the position I    Article 31 is a Reformation principle. It was born in the
took in the article to which he refers are objections           fire of the Reformation. It was not a principle of the
based exclusively on historical precedents. In a way this       Romish Church. Luther had no alternative but to
is too bad because the issue is really one which centers        protest evils in the Church with which he disagreed in
in the meaning of Article 31 of the Church Order.               the manner he did. He was seeking the reform of the
Article 31 describes the bethod of expressing disagree-         Church - a reform of abuses which had crept in through
ment with ecclesiastical decisions with which one               the general spiritual and moral decay of the Romish
disagrees and which one maintains are contrary to the           institute since the days of Augustine. He worked in a
Word of God and the Church Order. In the whole of the           context of reform as well. For many years, individuals,
Church Order this is the only method of expressing such         councils and organized groups fought long and hard for
disagreement. If the ecclesiastical assemblies decide           reform. For the most part their efforts were successfully
against one who so protests, these decisions must be            resisted by the entrenched papacy. Rome recognized
considered settled ,and binding.                                Augustine and had canonized him. Luther appealed
   Mr. Elzinga speaks, as I did, of circumstances in the        directly back to Augustine and voiced his agreement
Church which lead ecclesiastical assemblies to decide           with that great Church father.
things contrary to the Word of God. What must one                 The same was true of Huss. Huss was born in 1396,
then do who is faithful? It is my position that his only        150 years before the Lutheran Reformation began.
option, if all appeal has failed and he cannot submit, is       There was no avenue of appeal open to him. He went to
to leave the Church in which he has his membership to           Constance under a safe-conduct granted him of the king
seek the fellowship of the saints elsewhere. This is not        and with the promise that he would be given oppor-
only the clear implication of Article 3 1 and the whole         tunity to state his case. This was denied him. He was
Church Order; this lies in the very nature of the Church        tried, condemned without being given opportunity to
Federation. One's membership in the Church Federation           say one word and burned at the stake.
is of his own choosing. By joining himself to such a              But with De Cock it was different. His Secession
federation of Churches, he willingly places himself             dates from 183      But Mr. Elzinga is mistaken in his
under the Church Order, the Confessions and the                 analysis of De Cock's actions. The chief issues facing De
decisions of the ecclesiastical assemblies. If he becomes,      Cock were confessional unfaithfulness and liberalism in
in the course of time, convinced that this Church               the State Church. This unfaithfulness and liberalism had
Federation no longer manifests the unity of the body of         not come about through ecclesiastical decision. It was
Christ, he has the choice of leaving. But he may not, in        the direct fruit of dead orthodoxy and rationalism
good conscience, agitate against ecclesiastical assemblies      which swept Europe and the Reformed Churches.
when he has, by joining the federation, submitted               Against these De Cock protested in his preaching and
himself to their decisions.                                     writing. But he did not agitate against ecclesiastical
  Nor can I[ imagine why he would want to do this. It           decisions. In fact, at one time disciplinary proceedings
seems to me that should an issue which separates an             were started against him, but were not sustained because
individual and the assemblies be of such magnitude that         De Cock was in no violation of ecclesiastical decisions.
the individual becomes convinced that  .that Church             At another time he was suspended from office for two
departs radically from the Word of God, he will want to         years to which suspension he submitted. But when
say to these *assemblies: "Brethren, we can no longer           finally the breach came, it was brought about not by De


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     185


Cock being expelled by the Church, but by an Act of            That he was aware of the fact that this meant
Secession drawn up by De Cock and his Consistory on            separation, even though the decisions of Classis were as
October 13, 1834. By this Act he separated himself             wrong as -they could be, is evident from the new name
from a Church which had begun to walk the road of              given the congregation: "Protesting Christian Reformed
apostasy. For details, cf. "The Christian Reformed             Church". It is true that a protest was still sent to Synod
Tradition", by D. H. Kromminga, pp. 79-93.                     which men every two years. But little hope was held
  The same was true of Rev. H. Hoeksema. There are             that it would be heard. And, indeed, it was rejected on
several points which illustrate this. For one thing, the       the grounds that the protestants had left the
Synod of 1924 which drew up the Three Points of 1924           denomination.
specifically rejected a motion to begin disciplinary             Finally, there is given the example of Peter and John.
action against Rev. Hoeksema even though it had such a         But this too is hardly analogous. The Sanhedrin formed
motion before it. In the light of Rev. Hoeksema's op-          the political and ecclesiastical tribunal in Israel because
position to the Three Points and in the context of             it belonged to the dispensation of shadows. In matters
Synod's own call for continuing discussion of the              political its authority was sharply curtailed by Rome.
whole subject, this could only be interpreted as mean-         But obviously, Peter and John could not recognize the
ing that there~was room in the Church for the position         authority of the Sanhedrin in mattersof preaching the
which Rev. Hoeksema took.                                      gospel. Nor was their statement of obedience to God
  When  Classis Grand Rapids East nevertheless went            rather than man an act of defiance against ecclesiastical
ahead and deposed him and his Consistory, Rev.                 decisions within a federation of Churches. Such a
Hoeksema was well aware of the fact that to continue to        situation simply did not exist.
preach would mean a separation between him and his               In conclusion then, the proper way of protest is the
Church. Why he chose to continue to preach is discussed        way outlined by Article 3 1 of the Church Order. There
in "The History of the Protestant Reformed Churches."          is no other.


From Holy Writ

                                    The -Book off Hebrews

                                                     Rev. G. Lubbers

ANNULMENT OF  THE FOREGOING COMMAND-                           The way into the holiest was still not opened, according
MENT (con timed) (Hebrews 7: 18, 19)                           to the testimony of the Holy Ghost. (Hebrews 9: 8;
  It should be clearly understood that this command-           Ephesians 2: 14, 15)
ment which was annulled by the Lord was not simply a              But now God has abolished this commandment of the
commandment which was to be obeyed by man,                     Levitical law by his official annulment. It could be
obedience to which is righteousness, but an institution        annulled because of two `reasons. The first reason was
designed to effect the atonement for men's sins. This          that it was weak; it `was characterized by "weakness." It
law, which was according to a carnal commandment,              was powerless to help; it could not bring about any aid
was unable to accomplish. such an atonement and                to the wounded conscience. It did not really deal with
expiation of sin and guilt by its own inherent weakness.       and touch the souls and hearts of men, and, actually
It had reference only to the flesh and could not apply to      save. It was weak! and for this reason it was also
the cleansing of the conscience from guilt and pollution       without any profit. It had in it the principle of
of sin. (Hebrews 9: 9, 10, 13, 14; 10: 2)                      unprofitableness. It fell by reason of its own incapacity
  This law made nothing perfect! We should notice the          to save. When it was discarded nothing was discarded
word "nothing." Perfection was indeed not by the               but what was weak and unprofitable. The Hebrew
Levitical priesthood. As law this Levitical priesthood         Christians should take this to heart, and should not look
only pointed to the better hope. However, if nothing           back to the shadows and types as to the lost paradise.
more had happened, and Christ had not come to suffer           With Paul they should glory in nothing but the Cross of
and die as the great Priest according to the order of          Jesus Christ, through which they are crucified to the
Melchizedek, we would still be in our sins. God saw that       world and the world is crucified to them.
this Levitical priesthood had accomplished nothing               For this annulling of the commandment had another
toward our perfection to bring us near to God. We still        light side to it. It was that when the vail is rent in twain,
stood afar. There still was a middle wall of the partition.    from top to bottom, at that very moment Christ has


186                                               THE  STANDARD  BEARER


brought about (ginetail  the realization of a better hope.        By such an oath did God swear.
This "hope-" is the hope set before us. It is the hope            And God will not repent. That which God swears
which we have as an anchor for our soul, both sure and         eternally in His counsel of peace, .he swears in time and
steadfast, and which entereth into that which is within        presently in all eternity. The purpose of God is
the vail, whither the forerunner for us in entered, even       unchangeable. His promise cannot fail, and all the hosts
Jesus! (Hebrews 6: 19, 20)                                     of hell cannot thwart His purpose of election in Christ.
   The term for "bringing in" is very significant in the       The Son of God, who is called Jesus, is the designated
Greek. It was something which God brought in after-            Person in the Divine trinity, to come to save His people
wards, that is, after he had given a commandment which         from their sins. His counsel shall stand.
went before. The two are connected in the divine                  And this is the Word which God spoke through the
thought and plan as type and fulfillment, the shadow           prophet David, when David speaks of what the LORD
and the body, the earthly tabernacle `and the heavenly         said unto his Lord, the Christ. All the promises of God
sanctuary. Writes Calvin "by the word bringing in, on          and His oaths are yea and Amen in Jesus, to the glory of
introduction, he means a certain preparation made by           God, the Father!
the law, as children are taught in those elements which           This Jesus is the "surety of a better covenant!"
smooth the way to that which is higher." Thus God has             Here we must pause a bit and reflect on what the
brought us to-a better hope.                                   Scriptures in general mean with the term  `tcovenant"
   This hope is "better", incomparable better!                 and in the letter to the Hebrews in particular. A
   For this is an entirely new dispensation of grace, a        comparison of the translation of the KJV and that of
new legal basis in Christ's blood by which we draw near        the Holland translation will show that in the minds of
to God. We are now justified in him who was delivered          both of these translaters there is a difference indicated
for our offenses, and was raised for our justification.        between the terms "covenant" and "testament." What is
Thus we have peace with God in Him. In Him we have             striking concerning the usage of the term "testament" in
constantly, up to the present moment, access by faith.         the New Testament scriptures is that it is the term
`In this grace we stand as an abiding possession in Christ.    which is the translation of the Greek term "diatheekee"
And herein we rejoice in the hope of the glory which           in both the KJV and the Holland, where the Gospels
God has revealed in His saints. What a blessed hope, sure      speak of the institution of the Lord's Supper. In the
and steadfast in the holy place! (Romans 5: 12;                phrase "this cup is the new testament in my blood" we
Ephesians 2: 18; 3: 12.                                        see that the term "testament" is employed in both the
   Yes, now we have boldness to enter into the holiest         aforementioned translations. (Matthew 26: 28; Mark
by the blood of Jesus. No, we do not merely have an            14: 24; Luke 22: 20) Here we do not read "the new
earthly High Priest who enters into the holiest for us         covenant in my blood";
once every year; we ourselves draw nigh into the holiest.        Even a hasty perusal of the usage of the term in the
We do this not once every year, but we now constantly          letter to the Hebrews will show that both the KJV and
draw nigh to God. The verb in the Greek is in the              the Holland translation translate  diatheekee  with the
present tense. (eggizomen) It can be translated in the         term "testament" in Hebrews 9: 15-17. The reason for
sense of the progressive action in the present: we  are        this translation here seems rather obvious. It is to show
drawing nigh!  We are drawing nigh into the very               that the salvation is as a testament requiring a testator,
presence of God, before whom the angels cover their            who must die in order to make the testament of force.
faces as they sing their trisagion: holy, holy, holy is the    No testament can be of force to be executed and the
Lord God almighty!                                             heirs to receive the inheritance except the testator have
   A poor sinner, guilty in himself, now walks where           died. Thus also here. The term refers particularly to the
angels cover their faces!                                      death of Christ, as he has brought the perfect sacrifice
  Yes, annulment of the foregoing commandment!                 for our sins, making atonement and the expiation of our
  But, it is now standing in a better hope, by which we        guilt, so that God can be propitious to the heirs of the
are drawing nigh to God!                                       promise.
JESUS THE SURETY OF A BETTER COVENANT                            The term  testament  refers to the work of Christ in
(Hebrews 7:. 22)                                               connection with the judicial basis in the blood of Christ.
  Jesus did not become a high priest without a                   There are passages in the book of Hebrews where the
confirmation by the oath of God. It was not without            Holland translates "testament" and where the KJV
oath. It was therefore quite different than the priest-        translates "covenant." Thus in Hebrews 10: 29 the
hood of  ,Aaron. Here is a glory and a solemnity than          Holland reads (translated) "blood of the testament" and
which there is none greater. The oath is the end of all        the KJV reads `"blood of the covenant. `.' The same holds
contradiction. It is God swearing by His own holiness          true of the usage in both translation in Hebrews 13: 20.
and exaltedness, by the incomparable greatness of His          On the other hand in Hebrews 10: 16 both translations
rich mercy and eternal love, the panoply of His own            read "covenant" in the phrase "This is the covenant
immense Being and endless goodness.                            which I will make in those days . . . "'


                                                 THE  STANDAFgD  BEARER                                                187


   From the viewpoint of language and meaning of the           Greek is a verb which means: to  appoint,..to  consign
terms themselves this,. distinction is already somewhat        what belongs to one's self In the New Testament this
obvious. Both terms come from the Latin. Covenant is           verb is only in the middle voice: to arrange. or dispose
derived from the Latin convenire to come together, to          for one's seZfl'(E. Robinson) This ought to point up that
meet together. Tropically it refers to an agreement with       whether the term "covenant" is used or the term
wishes and decisions, to have a consensus, accord,             testament it is even a disposition of God which is
covenant. The term linguistically is akin to the term          brought about by God alone for Himself. The term in
"verbond" in the Holland. On the other hand the term           the Greek is not  "kuntitheemi"  but it is  `diatitheemi':!
"testament" is a transliteration of the latin  "`testa-        It is not the term used in Luke 22: 5 where we read
men turn. " And in Latin a testamen  turn is a legal will,     "and they were glad, and  covenanted  to give him
document of the testator. This accounts for the several        money. " Here the term is "suntitheemi" (our english;
usages and translations in the Bible.                          synthetic), which means to come to a mutual agree-
   However, the meaning of the terms "covenant" and            ment. The wills and the minds met! Such is never the
"`testament" must not be derived from the classical            term for God's covenanting as the great Testator! God
Latin usage and made to determine the Biblical meaning         ever raises up His own covenant. He does this whether
of the term. The Holy Ghost put His own meaning in             the term is "covenant" or whether it is "testament!"
the term in the Bible. This is abundantly clear from the          This has `some very important implications for the
Greek verb which is used for to make a covenant.               term here in Hebrews 7: 22 which speaks of Jesus
Literally this means "to covenant a covenant." The term        having become the surety of a better covenant (testa-
in the Bible for  to covenant  in the New Testament            ment)!


In His Fear

                                  A Song in the Heart (2)
                                                    Rev. John A. Heys                I.

  Prayer is the chief part of thankfulness. But singing is     musical perfection, perfect diction, a proper balance of
a chief part of praise, if not indeed the chief par-of         voices and parts, a musical masterpiece. rather than a
praise.                                                        masterpiece of praise? Here again it may be stated that a
   For to praise is to extol for virtue. When we extol         childlike faith is pleasing to God. Here again it may be
God for His goodness, it is an act of thanksgiving. When       pointed out that many who are first shall be last, and
we extol Him for this goodness and for any one of or           the last shall be first. The voice may be cracked and
for all of the other virtues which He possesses infinitely,    have the very unmusical quality that will disqualify for
we are praising Him. And singing is the chief method of        the choir, but the song is in the heart and the praise~is
praising Him. We praise Him in prayer. We praise Him in        pleasing in God's ears. There may not be a profound
preaching. We praise Him before men and we praise Him          thought of praise to God in the song. It may not be a
before His face. We extol Him publicly, and we praise          versification of the profound Word of God itself. It may
Him privately. And we do this so richly in song. In fact       express a very simple truth. It may be the simple
the longest book in the Bible, the Book of Psalms, is a        confession of the Jamaican chorus we heard so re-
bundle of songs of praise to God.                              peatedly, "They call Him the Rose of Sharon. They call
  But singing must be from the heart to be praise unto         Him the Lily of `the Valley. But I call Him, Jesus My
God.                                                           Lord." `There is praise. And when sincerely sung from
  Last time we pointed out that none, absolutely none,         the heart it sounds so sweet to the ears of God, while
of the singing of the unregenerated is pleasing in God's       the "artistic" rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus  -
sight and none is considered by Him to be praise.. And         which literally is the Word of God  -  .may be an
now we would come to that which we set out to write            abomination unto Him.
when we began last time. The question is, "How much              And then I mean exactly that Hallelujah Chorus and
of our singing is pleasing in God's ears? How much of          those literal words of Holy Writ as sung by members ,of
our singing is`praise to God? By what standards does He        the church, and believing members at that! There is so
judge it? Do we fail sometimes because we try too hard         much show-off singing, also with us. Instead of singing
for the wrong element?"                                        God's praises unto God, we are trying to display our
  Is it not true that also with our choirs we strive for       virtues of singing to men. Instead of extolling God for


188                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


His virtues, we are striving to extol ourselves for our          the unregenerated, all the unconverted are called by
 "virtues." And our singing becomes an abomination in            Jesus the serpents' brood, a generation of vipers, or if
God's ears. Truly our best works are polluted with sin.          you will, children of the devil. Thus John 8: 44:
Surely with Paul we must say, "I find then a law, that           Matthew 13: 38; I John 3: 8 and Matthew 12: 34.
when I would do good, evil is present with me.". And                The songs of the world therefore instead of extolling
again, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh)             God for His virtues ridicule these virtues, ignore them
dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me;          and deny them; and the world has a song in its heart
but how to perform that which is good I find not."               that extols the vices of men. The world's songs sing the
   We are not condemning choir rehearsal, although we            praises of man. And so often these are what throb in our
would point out that this is a very dangerous thing. It is       souls. Instead of singing, "How Great Thou Art" and,
not dangerous because singing as such is a matter in             "0 God how good Thou art", it is the "goodness" of
which we can sin so easily and quickly. It is not                man, the might and wisdom of man that vibrates in our
dangerous because rehearsing as such is a violation or           fleshly. hearts. And were that all, it would be bad
leads to a violation of God's law. It is not dangerous           enough. But listen once to what is offered today, and
because God- frowns on a truly artistic rendition of a           every day, and twenty four hours a day on radio and
song of His praises. It is dangerous because it is so often      juke box! It is man's filth. It is his caricature for love. It
and so easily accompanied with taking God's name in              is his sensuous, filthy passions of the depraved flesh!
vain! We take God's name and His praises on our lips             And your children fill your house with it, and you tap
without any thought of Him in our hearts and minds.              your toe to it?
And our singing becomes no different from the pro-                  Let us not be narrow in our observations and put the
fanity of the world! For surely when we take that name           choir on the spot. What about us who are the listeners?
of God over and over again to get the phrase polished            By what standards do we judge their singing? Do they
for an "artistic" rendition that will extol OUY names and        strive for such an "artistic" rendition in our churches
m.ake us pleasing to men, we have taken that name of             because we do not know what is pleasing to God? Are
God in vain. We have used it for our flesh. We have used         we the listeners so interested in man and what he does
His holy name to advance our cause. We have not, as              that we ignore the element of what God is, and those
Paul exhorts us in Ephesians 5: 19, been "singing and            who sing for us must cater to our fallen tastes rather
making melody in your (our) hearts to the Lord." 0, we           than God's glory?
are making melody. But it is  `not `in the heart to the             Do we reject sincerity for sonority? Is it with us a
Lord." A song of praise to be a song of praise, a song of        question of loudness rather than love to God? Do we
praise to. be pleasing in God's ears must come from out          look for that which the world also can do or that which
of the heart. We must not only sing believing that which         only the child of God can and does do? Do we
we sing of God's virtues and glory but also rejoicing in         concentrate on the delivery rather than on the doctrine?
those virtues and in that glory. And this means that we          Do we rejoice in rhythm rather than in revelation? Is the
must have a song in our hearts as well as one upon our           melody more important than the message? Do we try so
lips.                                                            hard to please our ears that we have no thought any
   It follows then that the unregenerated, the' un-              more for what pleases God's ears?
believer, the enemy of God cannot sing a song that is               Let us also examine our congregational singing. Do
praise and cannot sing a song that pleases God. He may           we drag it or swing it? Do we sing with no heart in it, or
believe what he sings. James tells us that the devils            do we sing it in the spirit of  better-get-tbis-thing-over-
believe that there is one God and even tremble, so               as-fast-as-we-can? We have heard much lifeless singing,
certain are they that there is one God. But they surely          and we have tried to stay with this race-track execution
do not rejoice in this truth. Otherwise they would not           of what ought to be praise and instead is getting away
tremble. They would sing. Do you know of any passage             from God's presence in song as fast as we can, so we can
in Holy Writ that presents the devils as singing? Do you         go on to other matters. We are in agreement with
ever read of them having a song in their hearts? The very        neither. But we do say that both reveal what is in the
mention of God's virtues makes them groan in anger.              heart.
They rejoice in none of His virtues and they covet His             -A heart with the song of Moses and the Lamb in it
glory for themselves. His sovereignty fills them with            just cannot drag the words out as though this is a
fury. His righteousness and holiness will never be the           necessary evil, something that is our calling to do but in
theme of their song. They cannot sing of His love, His           which our heart is not. You see them sometimes from
mercy. and His grace. For they are not recipients and            the pulpit. The mouth remains closed, the eyes are
objects of these virtues. And when they see these virtues        lifeless. There is no interest in what is going on. There is
bestowed upon. God's people they seek to counteract              no song in the heart and consequently there is none on
them and to destroy them and to rob God's people of              the lips. 0, indeed, there may be times when the heart is
their comfort and joy. And so it is with all their               overwhelmed with grief. There may be times when one
children, their spiritual offspring. All the unbelievers, all    just cannot sing. This indicates that the song must come


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  189

                                                                     .

     from the heart. And there are dirges, songs of sadness,      clear and triumphant sound? Why not clapping of the
     cries for deliverance and complain& These songs others       hands in the joy and ecstasy of justification by faith? If
     can sing during our moments of deepest grief. For you        we get on fire in the heart by the joy of salvation full
     cannot cry and sing at the same time. But if one is never    and free, the musical or unmusical quality of our voice
     able to sing, if after the shock of the severe blow has      will not keep us silent.
     passed we still cannot sing, it must mean that we have         But the song of salvation will move to the deeds of
     no song in the heart. We simply do not know the joy of       salvation.- There will be the decorum of a sanctified life
     the salvation which is ours in Christ and therefore we       and not the wild, savage tempo and antics of heathen-
     cannot sing about God.                                       dom. There will be a restrained joy which is not a joy
       Is that not an awful thing, not to be able to sing         held back but a joy before God's face. After all a song
     about as well as unto God? We can sing about men,            of praise is a song UNTO God. Away with this singing
     about material things. From the moment we wake up in         unto men. That you find in the world, for the children
I    the morning until we close our eyes in sleep we will         of the world know no one above the children of the
     listen - and sing along in our hearts, for otherwise we      world. Away, then, in our churches and church circles
     would not turn the radio or record player on  - but in       with singing unto men. Singing before men is in order,
     church????? Is it not the testimony of the book of           provided it is unto God and in His fear. With reverence
     Psalms throughout that the child of God SINGS? It is         and awe - and how else can you sing, if you give heed
     equally true that he sings because of the song of            to the words of the spiritual song  - in the very
     salvation in his heart. A quick glance at my concordance     consciousness that we are before God's face - let us sing
     shows some ninety references in the Psalms to the heart,     praise to God from Whom all blessings flow. Let our
     and the word "sing" appears about forty times. Even          song be this:
     then there is not a single one of these one hundred fifty
     psalms that is not in itself in the form of a song. The                       Ye who His temple throng,
     whole book is a compilation of poems of praise.                                 Jehovah's praise prolong,
       And if we really have that praise in our hearts, do we                      New anthems sing;
     need a powerful organ to pull us along? Is it the organ                         Ye. saints, with joy declare
     that makes our singing so spontaneous, or is it the song                      Your Maker's loving care,
     in our hearts? We do not condemn the organ, nor even                            And let the children there
     the cymbals and drums. Why not a trumpet with its                             Joy in their king.


     Studies in Depth


            The Modern Movement of Crusade Evangelism
                                               Rev. Robert C. Harbach

       Invitational and anecdotal preaching today. largely        as a pandering "to popular superstition. We fear that in
     displaces textual and expositional preaching. The "in-       those rooms men are warmed to a fictitious confidence.
     vitation" used in connection with a sermon is a mere         Very few of the supposed converts of enquiry-rooms
     additive foreign to true preaching. What can the             turn out well. . . God has not appointed salvation by
     "invitation" furnish that true preaching does not?           enquiry-rooms. . .  " Latent in such sensationalist
     Where the latter is a reality, why would anyone want to      practices is legalism, a subtle form of Romanism.
     append an opportunity to "take it or leave it"? - which         The "enquiry room" may not be so widely used in
     is what an "invitation" is. Today, the "invitation"          this day. The so-called "invitation" to "let Christ come
     tacked on at the end of a "message" is usually one to        into your heart" is more widely practiced by modem
     come forward and accept Christ. Hence the "invitation"       mass evangelism. Who is not familiar with the gospel-
     is also referred to as an "altar call." What is the          hucksters who put Christ up for grabs like a peanut
     implication of an "altar call"? Are there altars in          scramble? The "evangelist" may announce, "This is
     Protestant and Christian churches which seeking sinners      what we are going to do - Ask you to come right now,
     are to approach on their way to God? Are there still in      right up to the front. Wherever you are, there in the
     such churches remnants of "the. anxious seat," the           back, up in the gallery, come quickly. That's a long
     "mourner's bench" or the "enquiry room?" The great           aisle, but Christ went all the way to the cross for you."
     C. H. Spurgeon regarded the use of the "enquiry room"        Or, "You can come these few steps. Christ went all the


 196                                             THE STANDARD BE-ARER


wif for you. Give your life' to Him. You do it now."'          grace" philosophy which flatters the natural man, ,baits
 Sometimes the "invitation"' (the human device) is made        him with a counterfeit, nonsaving "good" and deludes
 to sound as though not complying with it is tantamount        him with a false picture of sin. He often assumes he is
 to repudiating the command of Christ. "Come now; if           converted because he "went forward" and "accepted
 you do not receive Him, you will die in your'sins; come       Christ" in response to an "altar call,`! and that he must
 forward.`?                                                    be truly converted since now he does not drink, nor
   It always `makes a hit with the people to ride on the       swear, nor lie, nor gamble, nor have a' troubled mind.
 coat-tails  ,of a name-great of former years, especially      Personal "testimonies" reveal satisfaction with -this
 when it gives the impression of following in the line of      negative sanctification, and indicate a looking to self
 the Puritans or Reformers. When, for example, the             and to some act of man for salvation, rather than to
 modem evangelist covers himself and his ministry with         "look unto Me and be ye saved." He may have and look
 quotations from Spurgeon, the impression is given that        to his good desires which do not spring from motives
 hestands `where Spurgeon stood. But the great prince of       that arise from love to Christ,. the true Christ (and not
 preachers held very openly and very uncompromisingly          an Arminian Christ) and from the aim to glorify God. It
 to the truth of the total depravity of man's nature.          may be that his conversion has come very easily.because
 Anyone believing that great truth could not' beg his          of a very superficial view `of sin. It  may. then be
 hearers to "come to Christ" as though they had the            discovered to be only a mirage. In reality, sin is not just
 ability  to, do so. He would not say, "You have the           a wrong which creates problems and upsets in life,
 ability to choose. You stand at the crossroads. You may       bringing grief and tragedy, even damnation. Being
 never be as close to the kingdom again. I believe your        "saved" from such sins seems to many to be evidence of
 heart is specially prepared-. . . You get up and come         grace. For they deem the remaining sin in them to be
 forward."                                                     but "infirmity," and since there is always indwelling sin
  : Supposed converts can be multiplied by the carloads        in the best Christian as long as he lives no matter how
 ouf'of this mill of cheapjack evangelism. But in every        much he may strive against it, this does not trouble the
 age few are saved. The disciples asked the Lord, "Are         modem convert because, he reasons, no child of God
 there few that be saved?" From Him came the words,            can completely- overcome sin in this life. But this is not
 "Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few           to see sin as man's worst enemy, neither to see it in its
 there be that find it." The antediluvian world, we have       exceeding sinfulness as an offence against God's holiness
 good reason to believe, was very highly populated, yet        and justice, nor to see that the best Christian does not
 there was only one righteous family, in that of Noah's.       mourn the less, but the more for indwelling sin.
 Of that generation which entered into the wilderness,           The "repentance" and "faith" demanded and pro-
 not even Moses but only Caleb and Joshua entered the          fessed by modem evangelism and its converts are
 land. When schism split the twelve tribes of Israel, only     different only in degree from that of Balaam,  Herod,
 two followed the Lord, Judah and Benjamin. In the             Pilate, Judas and Simon Magus. The prophet Balaam had
 times of Elijah and Isaiah, there was but a very small        high aspirations. He desired to die the death of the
 remnant according to the election of grace. With the          righteous. The trouble was, he did not, could not, live
 advent of Christ, He was in the world, the world was          the life of the righteous. Herod heard the Word of God
 made by Him, but the world knew Him not. .He came             from John, heard him gladly, and did many things,
 unto His own and His own received Him not. The seed           which undoubtedly had to be recognized as good, as the
 of the Word is sown on four kinds of `ground, but only        good Jehu performed. Yet he was dominated by sin, and
 one is good ground.                                           broke not one or two, the sixth and seventh, but all the
  . The masses are ignorant of .a true and saving grace,       commandments daily. Judas dreamed of a kingdom, was
 believing that all kinds of "common grace" (a `human          willing to forsake the world for it, to outwardly conform
 fiction) enable them to "accept or reject Christ."            to the law of God for it. But so far from entering the
 Everyone ought to be suspicious of a "grace" which            kingdom of God, he went to his own place.
 puts one in a position to reject Christ! Such a "grace"         Today's evangelism, unlike that of Paul's first three
 must only be another form of sin! Many take that to be`       chapters of Remans,  flatters its hearers, buttering them
 a work of grace when an "unclean spirit is (merely) gone      up as generous, honest, religious people, who still retain
 out (not driven out) of a man," leaving him "empty,"          much good in them, especially the ability to do God a
 i.e., with no Christ (and so no grace); or, they assume to    favor and come over to His side; The matter of their sin
 have grace because they tasted the good Word of God,          must be handled with a certain amount of dispatch.
 or because they temporarily went along with the Holy          Nothing `about confession of sin, repentance and coming
 Spirit  - things. which do not necessarily accompany          to Christ must be burdensome or "too strict," if
 salvation. Yet these things are rested in as evidences of     converts are to be made. The sin question does not take
 grace. But true grace, being much higher, is beyond the       long to settle. To ask in pressing for a "decision" for
 reach of all natural and common attainments.                  Christ, "You have sinned, but Christ died for your sins,
 At the bottom of modern evangelism is a "common               bore your sins  - then where are they?" has the


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    191


tendency to give men repose in a state of false `peace. So,    evidences of grace .and so feel safe, so much so that he
one may conclude he is truly converted because he has          will not find himself anymore to be vile, -or at least no
heard the Word of God, now reads the Bible,  has.              more troubled about his vileness. This is to trust to self,
"accepted Christ," has a "wonderful Savior," prays,            to rest satisfied with fig-leaf righteousness. Any evan-.
reforms his life and so doubts not his salvation. `He has      gelism that does not agree with the infallible rule of
been led to believe he is in a state of grace because he       Holy Scripture  .we are bound to reject with all our
"came forward" to the rostrum at an evangelistic               hearts. Let message. and method conform  to. that rule
meeting and "took Christ," tasted of Christ and of the         and leave results to God. He is not slower than we are,
good Word of God and has a peace never known before.           and will not fail to honor His own Word preached.
But he had better be sure he is in a state of grace for
none of these things, but because he has found the pearl
of great price, has sold all and bought it to forsake all        Salvation is, from its beginning to its end, .a mighty
for God and Christ.                                            wonderwork of ,God, no less marvelous, and therefore;
  What bridges men make for themselves to get across           no less divine, than the work of creation. It is that
to Christ! What inventions modern evangelism call on           wonderwork of the  Almighty by which He calls light
men to use to get to Christ!. Faith conceived of as            out of  .darkness, righteousness out of unrighteousness,
coming from and originating in man according to his            everlasting glory out of deepest shame, immortality out
"free will" is one of those human devices. "Faith" is          of death, heaven. out of hell! It is the wonder of grace,
preached as a power of man's, own production  and.             whereby God lifts an accursed world out of the depth of
exertion. Confidence in such a "faith" is like holding on      its misery into the glory of His heavenly kingdom and
to one's shadow. True faith is not a native human              covenant. That work is absolutely divine. Man has no
quality, nor one which human nature can just as well           part in it, and cannot possibly cooperate with God in his
produce. It is a gift of God, as much as repentance, or        own salvation. In no sense of the word, and at no stage
eternal life; a power which the Lord must sovereignly          of the work, does salvation depend upon the will or
work in His chosen. But a self-elicited faith will take        work of man, or wait for the determination of his will.
hold of Christ before made aware of need for him, and          In. fact, the sinner is of himself neither capable nor
before realizing any lack of faith and ability to believe      willing to receive that salvation. On the contrary, all he
in Him. A "salvation" acquired by such "faith" is a            can do and will is to oppose, to resist his own salvation
deception and's trust to self. A man must know himself         with all the determination of his sinful heart. But God
to be spiritually dead, and so unable to believe until the     ordained and prepared this salvation with absolutely
Lord makes him alive and endows him with saving faith.         sovereign freedom for His own, His chosen ones alone;
Without that work of grace he has no faith at all. When        and upon them He bestows it, not because they seek
a man realizes he is a sinner, he knows he is vile. The        and desire it, but in spite of the fact that they never will
more he understands God's Word and the closer he gets          it, and bectiuse He is stronger than man, and overcomes
to Christ the more vilenesshe discovers in himself. The        the hardest heart and the most stubborn will of the
Christian man does not merely feel sometimes troubled          sinner. He reconciles the sinner unto Himself; He
for sin. He is always troubled for it. His praying over it,    justifies him and gives him the faith in Christ; He
sorrowing for it and confessing it do not assuage the          delivers him from the power and dominion of sin, and
grief of his trouble. It only reveals to him that he is the    sanctifies him; He preserves him. All this belongs to the
more vile. But the  hasty5 shallow person, affected by         wonder of salvation, which is accomplished through
hasty, shallow evangelism, after praying, confessing and       sovereign grace alone.
being troubled for sin will assume these actions are                       -H. Hoeksema, "Whosoever Will" pp. 14,15




                                            RESOLUTIONOFSYMPii'HY

The Ladies' Aid of the Randolph Protestant Reformed            whom the Lord took unto Himself on Dec. 15, 1968 at
Church hereby expresses its sincere sympathy to a              the age of.62. -
faithful member, Mrs. Jeanette Soodsma, in the passing           May, the knowledge that after God guides us by His            '
of her husband                                                 counsel' all our days, He. receives us into glory (Psalm
                                                               73  : 24) supply her and her children with abundant
                  MR. GERRIT SOODSMA                           p e a c e .
                                                                                                  Rev. D. H. Kuiper, Pres.
                                                                                                  Mrs. M. De Vries, Sec'y.


 192                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


                                  News From Our Churches

                                              Jan. 1, 1969     and the singing of two songs, one of which was sung in
    The winter's grip on the nation was felt in Iowa Dec.      German, the language of their forefathers.
 22 when all church services were cancelled and the                                        ***
 evening Christmas program was postponed. This winter's           A ninety-year-old lady from Mineral, Va. wrote Rev.
 grippe was also in evidence in all'our churches, leaving      Woudenberg to thank him for his study sheets which she
 many seats vacant, and in one instance, `Southeast            regularly enjoys, adding, "I agree with all your doctrinal
iChurch, the pulpit had to be occupied by an elder on          statements."
 Sunday evening and Christmas morning when Rev.                                           ***
 Schipper was laid low by its bug.                                The young people of  Redlands sponsored a  pre-
                            ***                                Christmas hymnsing which was reported to be, "enthu-
    Our Protestant Reformed Christian School Teachers          siastic and inspiring".
 Convention was held in South Holland Nov. 7 and 8.
 The Thursday morning lecture on, "Distinctive Christian          Among the many benefits to be had as a member of a.
 Education" was given by Dr. Calvin Seerveld, while the        Prot. Ref. Church one cannot find one that affords a
 afternoon program featured Prof. H. Hanko who spoke           low budget payinent. Isabel adopted a 1969 budget that
        "General Revelation and Christian Instruction"         calls for a weekly gift of $9.10 (is this the highest?), and
 E:day morning they attended the -Midwest  Chr:                that does not include the many other needs that must
 Teachers Ass'n  Sectionals  .in Chicago, and toured the       be met in the name of Christian Charity. But the very
 Museum of Science and Industry in the afternoon. Their        fact that we can adopt such a budget is a proof that we
 reporter, Mr. John Kalsbeek, said,  `,`The exchange of        can say, "Our cup runneth over".
 ideas, the Christian fellowship and the .unity of thought                                ***
 and purpose shall never be forgotten. New ideas to try,          Looking over the printed programs of our schools and
 new thoughts to think and new energy to face the              churches we noted that Kalamazoo's was a bit different
 responsibility of instructing Covenant children; these        from the usual run. The congregation was asked to sing
 ingredients contributed much to the success of the            a number of Christmas carols interspersing the reading
 convention".                                                  of choice scripture portions by the Sunday School
                           I**                                 children. A violin solo by Mary Klop and a reading
    Hope's Choral Society rendered a Christmas concert         taken from Spurgeon,. which was read by Phil Harbach,
 consisting of some ten numbers, with an accordian solo        completed the interesting program.
 and a piano-organ duet to give variance to the program.                                  ***
                           ***                                    aur most recent Theological Journal, Vol. II, No. 1,
                                                               contains a paper on "The Organic Development of
   Prof. H.C. Hoeksema and family vacationed in                Dogma", by Prof. H. Hanko; and the second half of the.
 Florida during the Christmas-between-semesters-vaca-          journal is taken up by a reprint of a paper authored by
 tion, and Prof. H. Hanko and family were quartered in         the late Rev.. H. Hoeksema which was found in his
 Hull's parsonage  -with the Professor ministering to the effects. The title of the paper is, "On the Theory of
 congregation's needs in the interim.                          Common Grace". The Editor wrote, "While it has in it
                           ***                                 much Greek and Hebrew, our readers who have no
    On Dec. 20 Hope School rendered their Christmas            acquaintance with the original languages of Scripture
 program and had invited their parents and the staff and       need not be deterred from reading it. The article will be
 pupils of Covenant High School to share it with them.         of considerable value. And, though written some years
 The first grades sang and recited Luke 2; the junior and      ago, will be very relevant to the present." It is thought
 senior choirs, under the direction of H. Langerak, sang       to have been written' about 1920 and was read at a
 some numbers; Prof. Hanko gave a short talk on, "He           minister's conference of some kind. And even when we
 was made poor that we might be rich"; the High School         ignore the' Greek and the Hebrew we found it very
 choir, under the direction of R. Petersen, sang three         interesting to note that the author's thinking had
 numbers which, according to our reporter, "made chills        developed, but .was not changed in regard to the entire
 run up and down my spine". It, was announced that             issue at that time.
 Hope's children had contributed $200.00 as their                                         ***
Christmas gift to the children of Jamaica.                       Kalamazoo's Dec. 29 bulletin carried a thank you
                           ***                                 from the Pastor and his family for the generous purse
    Loveland's `School Christmas'prdgram included audi-        given them by the congregation Christmas Day.
 ence. participation in two ways: the giving of an offering    . . . see you in church                              J.M.F.


